


Part II: Summer Odyssey

by Aviditas04



Series: The Alexander Chronicles Book I: Greece [2]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Book 2: The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson), Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-16
Updated: 2019-03-02
Packaged: 2019-07-13 03:52:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 16,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16009712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aviditas04/pseuds/Aviditas04
Summary: After clearing Percy of being the Lightning Thief, Alex has trouble at camp and leaves to reunite with his one-time potential step-father, Dr. Egan.  But when trouble strikes at Camp Half-Blood, he can't help but return no matter the threat.





	1. Year of Tartarus

 

Camp was hell.

 

I know, you'd think that a camp where you learn to be a hero would be heaven on earth. But for me, Alexander Summers, only living son of Zeus (or as I prefer, Jupiter,) it was hell. Everyone had been staring at me since Father claimed me, obviously expecting me to be exceptional at everything. But when I went from the best duellist in the camp to being simply average, everyone started teasing me. I would often run to my sister, Thalia's tree for some privacy. Things got worse when I tried to start up group training sessions so we could learn to fight as a unit. Even when I and my seven automatons defeated twenty-one children of Mars/Ares, including Clarisse, they still wouldn't listen to me! To make matters worse, they started mocking me, claiming I shouldn't be there. This only enhanced the feeling that I'd had since I arrived, that I didn't belong there, that there was another place for me. My only relief came when Father contacted me and said I could come to Olympus for a while and meet the family. Of course, I jumped at the opportunity.

 

For once, I actually had something to look forward to at camp. With Olympus waiting for me, I worked twice as hard to 'pass' my 'classes.' Unfortunately, that only made me worse at the rock wall; if it weren't for the winged shoes I got from Luke Castellan (that traitorous son of Mercury/Hermes,) I probably would have died at least six times a week. Fortunately, I was quickly regaining my old skill with my _gladius_. Finally, December 20th came, and we were allowed to leave camp for Olympus (Yes, Dad told me to come with the other campers, he thought it wouldn't draw as much attention as me leaving on my own.) When we arrived, we met many of the Big 14 Olympians, the only ones missing were Aphrodite/Venus and my step-mother, Hera/Juno (definitely not someone that I was looking forward to meeting.) I was quite glad to see my uncle, Hades/Pluto there, and I managed to gain his forgiveness for blasting him with Dad's Master Lightning Bolt (long story.)

 

The Winter Solstice Council was a very boring meeting, pretty much nothing more than a chance for my father and uncles to officially apologize to each other after the events of the past year. After that, Olympus became very interesting. I got to meet most of my 'divine' relatives, and for the most part they all liked me. I learned that Father had made many of his children give me a gift before he was born, thus the confusion over my heritage last year. From Ares/Mars, I'd had skill and knowledge of weapons (but he took that away after I shot _him_ with the Lightning Bolt, same long story); Athena/Minerva, I got my skill in strategy; from Apollo, a love of and skill with music; from Artemis/Diana, skill with archery; from Dionysus/Bacchus, my satyr-like sense of smell; and from Hermes, mastery of flight. Over the next few weeks, I got to know most of them very well, except for Diana, as she left for her Hunters only a week after the meeting.

 

After a month on Olympus, I finally worked up the courage to ask Jupiter a question that had been bothering me.  "Father, why am I so different from the others in Camp Half-Blood?  I mean, I don’t have dyslexia, I can’t read Greek, yet Latin comes as easy to me as English.  I prefer to call you by your Roman names, and everyone refers to me as a son of Jupiter.”

 

 Father sighed. “I had hoped this conversation would not happen for a few years yet, but as you have asked, I shall answer.  The truth is that while you live with the Greeks, you are not Greek yourself.  You are a Roman demigod.” My confusion must have shown on my face as he continued his explanation. "Remember how Chiron explained how we move from place to place, wherever the flame of the West is brightest?  Well, every time we move, we take on some of the traits of the cultures we live in, though less with each move. Naturally, the first time we moved-from Greece to Rome, we took on the most traits, so much so that we basically became different people."

 

 "So, split personalities?"

 

"Similar, but not quite. When we moved to Rome, we eventually became the gods of an empire. We became more warlike, more united, had fewer power struggles, and we didn't mix with mortals quite as much. That's why the Romans changed our names, we weren't the same people we were in Greece. Percy and most of the rest at Camp Half-Blood are Greek demigods, born when our Greek personalities rule, but not you, you are truly the son of Jupiter, not Zeus. That is the answer to all your questions. The dyslexia only affects our Greek children, as English uses a modern Latin alphabet."

 

"If I'm Roman, than there must be others, why am I not with them?"

 

"You will go to Camp Jupiter when the time is right, my son, but not now. As it is, the Greeks and Romans have a rivalry dating back to the Trojan War, one that became so bad that in the 1860's, we had to weave the Mist to the point that neither camp knew of the other. I assumed that it would be permanent, though Juno and I both dreamed of a day when our children can reunite. Then thirteen years ago I saw a vision of a terrible war, one where both Greeks and Romans would need each other, so I came up with a plan and set it in motion.

 

"The best way to bring the camps together peaceably would be if they had some common ground and someone to act as a peacemaker, one who had the respect of both camps. I had already sired Thalia, so I returned to her mother and sired a son with her as Jupiter. Then I found your mother and she had you, and I had the Fates tie your string with Percy's for a few years, long enough for you to arrive at Camp Half-Blood and gain their respect. I had planned on you only discovering the truth when you met your brother, however the Fates apparently had other plans, but my plan will still work.  You will return to Camp Half-Blood and continue to train and make friends there. And when you meet your brother, you will have ties to him and Camp Jupiter, a perfect balance."

 

"Thank you, father, for telling me the truth," I told him. "I just hope you have a back-up plan in case Juno has her own ideas." After that I moved to another place, needing a chance to let this plot sink in.

 

Naturally, I didn't get the chance as two more Olympians visited me. "I knew I sensed one of our children here, but I never expected it to be you."

 

I turned to look and was surprised by who I saw. "Lady Venus, it is an honor to meet you, though I can't say the same for you, Mars, but I'm not one of your children."

 

"Ah, but you are," Mars replied. "You might not be born from us, but you have our blood in your veins, son of Rome." I looked at him in shock before remembering that the two of them could rightfully say that Rome was their child. It was a son of Venus, Aeneas that had led the Trojan survivors to Italia, and Mars' twin children Romulus and Remus who had founded Rome.  "Yet somehow I sense you are more than just a Roman."

 

"I agree, I sense our blood in him. Let me take a good look at you, my dear." I turned and looked at Venus straight in the eye, and she gasped in shock. "How could I have missed it? Mars, do you see it?"

 

"Yes, I see it, but I don't believe it! He's a Julian, or at least he looks like one. But how?"

 

"I don't know, but I can tell, he is a Julian! I can sense our blood in him, diluted by more than 2000 years, but it is there!  More, there is the blood of our most beloved legacy in him!"

 

"Divius Julius? By Jove, you're right! But how? I thought Caesarion was killed? And how is it that the Julian blood is showing up so strong? Eh, who cares, I need to undo what I did as Ares. You now once again have the battle knowledge suitable for a Roman: skill with the _gladius_ , _scutum_ and _pilum_. With anything else, Ares' curse remains, for the insult you gave him. Farewell, Alexander of the Julii, we shall see each other again." And with that most strange and brief encounter, I was left alone.

 

* * *

 

Two months after my two revealing conversations, I realized that I was missing something. One evening, I was sitting at the peak of Olympus, looking down at New York when Father came to me in his 'mortal' form. "Something's troubling you, son. What is it?"

 

"I almost feel like I'm losing my humanity here, Father. Don't get me wrong, I love it up here. It's just that I feel if I stay up here 'till summer, I won't be able to look at my friends as equals."

 

"I know it's hard for you, Alex, but I don't know any mortal I'd trust to keep you safe. And I know that you don't want to go back to Camp yet."

 

"What about another demigod? I know that Doc Egan is a son of Apollo, and he's in Greece right now."

 

"The archaeologist who specializes in our history? It's dangerous: the lands around Mare Internum are forbidden for a good reason, it's nearly suicide for any demigod to go there, let alone you.  The monsters range from something as simple as a few upset nymphs to ones as dangerous as Makhai. Even those you already know are far more dangerous in our ancient lands than those you have already faced."

 

"But Father, I need to train, and if Saturn is on the rise-"

 

"Fine, you can go, but please be careful, son."

 

* * *

  
 When we arrived in Greece, Doc welcomed me with open arms, but he was upset when he heard about my mom's death. When I told him I was there to reconnect with my humanity, he told me that was easy enough to do, and he assigned me to one of the digging crews. That night he explained what he was doing there. "You know who Perseus is right? Well, I'm determined to find his grave."

 

"Why here, in Mycenae? I thought that he was from Argos, and we're a good distance from Argos."

 

"Yes, he was from Argos, but he was king of Mycenae. Besides, no one's ever found his tomb in Argos. I'm hoping that with the information from history, and what I've gleaned from Chiron, I'll find the bones of Perseus, and prove that he actually existed."  
 Over the next few weeks (during which the two of us were constantly attacked,) we all worked hard excavating Mycenae, and I learned a lot about archaeology. When work was done, Doc even helped me relearn the sword. And considering the fact that I was a Roman demigod, whenever I could hit the town, I bought everything I could find on Rome: copies or translations of Latin works like Livy's _Ab Urbe Condita_ and my supposed ancestor Caesar's commentaries, HBO's series _Rome_ , Colleen McC _ullough's Masters of Rome_ series, anything I could get my hands on. Once I had read _First Man in Rome_ , I quickly decided to overcome my handicap and truly master the Greek language, despite my preference for Latin. And  though I had vowed off love, I kept my promise to Nico and started learning how to play Mythomagic by buying a few packs of cards and learning the rules.

  
 On the archaeological front, although we learned a lot about Mycenae, we didn't find so much as one tomb for months. In mid-April we finally found a tomb, but it was not labeled Perseus, instead it was labeled: Αγαμέμνονα βασιλιάς των βασιλέων, κατακτητή της Τροίας, which Doc translated to Agamemnon, King of kings, conqueror of Troy. "Well, that's one mythological king of Mycenae found, just not the one we're looking for, so let's find Perseus!"

 

* * *

 

 A few weeks (and several Makhai attacks) later, we found another tomb, but this one was different. Instead of a name, it was covered with pictographs that seemed to tell the story of Perseus and Heracles. When we sent some of the diggers down there, only one came back, and he was ranting about "snake-women that turned men to stone." Doc didn't believe him, so he grabbed me and we went down to look for ourselves. As we moved inside, we ran across human statues, growing more and more numerous the deeper we went in. Something about this seemed familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it until we entered a large room, and I caught a very familiar scent: sulfur. "Doc, I can smell sulfur down here."

 

 "That's foolish. There's nothing down here that would smell like sulfur."

 

 "What about monsters? I bet Stethno and Eurayle are here, waiting for anyone interested in Perseus, or related to him." He conceded that, and pulled out a bow, while I pulled out Ventus, my celestial steel sword/bow combo. We started walking backwards, using our shields to try and find the Gorgons. We heard them before we saw them, a rattle that sounded more like that of a rattlesnake than something human. When we finally saw their reflections, we understood why: they _weren't_ human. If you've ever seen _Clash of the Titans_ , then picture Medusa and you know what they look like.

 

 Doc tried shooting them, but the arrows couldn't pierce their thick hides. When I thought about when I faced Medusa last year on Percy's quest, I remembered that Annabeth had mentioned that as long as she had been wearing sunglasses, that they were safe, so I decided that I would see if that worked both ways. I put on my sunglasses (they were required equipment at any dig) and activated my javelin. I turned, faced them, and threw the javelin at the Gorgon that was further away. It pierced the heart (naturally) and pinned the Gorgon to the wall. The other one screamed and wailed for "Eurayle," obviously the one I'd pinned. I flew to Eurayle and cut her head off, then turned to Stethno. Unfortunately, she'd caught Doc, and was trying to get him to open his eyes. "HEY, UGLY! Look over here! I killed Eurayle, and I was present at the death of Medusa by Perseus Jackson, son of Poseidon!"

 

 That got her attention. She turned to me and shot an arrow through my right shoulder, pinning me to the wall, and then she came to me, obviously intent on taking my sunglasses off and turning me to stone. She never got the chance, as I switched sword hands and took her head, and I decided to see if I could change it into an ordinary object. I focused my thoughts on a medallion with a Gorgon head on it, and _voila_ , it worked! We then finished exploring the tomb, finding two coffins inside, one for Perseus, and the second for my long dead half-brother, Hercules.

 

 When we came out of the tomb, I felt a tug in my stomach, one I immediately recognized from the two times I had felt it before. I rushed back to Corinth and took a taxi to our hotel. When I got there, I ran for the copy of Phoebe's prophecy that I'd brought, and searched through it until I'd found the two lines I was looking for: _The third seal broken: The guardian tree poisoned_. Just then, I got an Iris-message from Annabeth. "Alex, don't come back to the camp, we've got trouble."

 

 "Yes, I already know. Thalia's tree has been poisoned." I cut the connection and got out a phone and called the airport. "Hello, I need to know the time for the first flight to New York."


	2. Another Warm Welcome

 It was May twentieth before another available flight to JFK was open, and I used the time to close down another part of my life. I said goodbye to Doc and the few friends I'd made in the team, and I packed up the few things I'd earned here, a few drachmas, pictures of the tombs, and of course, Stethnos' head. (What? You never know when a Gorgon's head could be useful.) I even had time to catch the _Smallville_ Season 6 finale.

After an uneventful flight, I activated my flying shoes (a gift from the traitorous Luke Castellan, one of the few good things that came from my distant cousin, on the Doc's side of the family) and started flying over Manhattan to check on Percy before going to Camp. It's a good thing that I did, because as I did, I passed over Meriwether College Prep just as the gym exploded. When I dived down, I watched as a giant threw a flaming bronze ball at a kid and then turned to Percy, obviously intent on killing him. I wasn't about to allow that, Percy was my oldest and best friend, our fates were tied together. I pulled out Ventus and activated the bow and shot him in the heart, just as a bronze knife pierced him in nearly the same spot, and he blew into a cloud of sulfur dust, something that clearly marked him as a monster. I turned to Percy and asked, "Can't you get through one school year without getting into some kind of trouble?"

"Apparently not. Where did you come from? I thought you were staying at Camp this year."

"There's no time right now guys! We've got to get going NOW! And Percy, bring him," Annabeth pointed at the kid that had been hit by the flaming ball. Amazingly, he was still alive, but considering what I saw through the Mist, maybe not so amazing. That kid was a Cyclops! While we ran from the authorities, again, Annabeth and Percy were arguing for some reason about Tyson. (I guess I could understand why Annabeth wouldn't trust him, in what little time I'd spent with Luke, he'd told me a lot about their trip to Camp Half-Blood, including the time that they had been delayed by Cyclopes.) "Now come on, we have to get out of here."

"The police will be after me."

"That's the least of our problems. Have you two been having the dreams?"

"The dreams . . . about Grover?" Annabeth and I were surprised about that, why would he be having dreams about Grover? When Annabeth explained about the trouble at camp, Percy asked "But what kind of trouble?"

Annabeth said "I don't know exactly. Something's wrong. We have to get there right away. Monsters have been chasing me all the way from Virginia, trying to stop me."

"You don't know what's wrong?" I asked. She nodded and asked what I knew. Typical of her, or any child of Athena. "Another seal's been broken." They obviously didn't remember the reference, so I quoted " _The third seal broken: The guardian tree poisoned_. Someone's poisoned Thalia's tree, and the magical borders are failing."

" _WHAT_? Then we need to get to camp ASAP!" She went fishing in her bag, obviously for a drachma, so I gave her one. "Thanks. _Stethi, o harma diaboles!_ " That didn't sound good, and sure enough, once the ride had arrived, I recognized the drivers. They were my ancient sisters, the Parcae, three immortal women who only had been born old with only one eye and one tooth between them, definitely not the best people to be driving. We'd be extremely lucky if we survived the ride! Percy and Annabeth took one look at the "seatbelts" and avoided them and I told the three of them "You'll be sorry." I buckled up, chains or not, it would be safer to wear them then not. Annabeth actually seemed to _trust_ them, despite the fact that they only had one eye. Then again, maybe it was because they claimed to "know things! Every street in Manhattan! The capital of Nepal! The location you seek!"

Percy noticed that, maybe because the other sisters tried to shush her after mentioning that. "What? What location? I'm not seeking any-"

"Nothing! You're right boy. It's nothing!" After their vehement denials, they started fighting over the eye, again, until it popped out and landed in Percy's lap, definitely _not_ the best thing that could've happened. When they lost the eye, the Graeae actually _sped up._ When Percy noticed where it had landed, and what it was, he jumped so hard that he nearly hit the ceiling. When he came down, he nearly squashed the eye with his foot. He eventually got them to say the location, after threatening to throw the eye out the window. Unfortunately, the location was nothing more than eight numbers: 30317512. How could those numbers be useful?

We finally made it to Camp, and just in time from what I could tell. Clarisse was leading a group of campers against . . . oh joy, the Colchis Bulls. I thought about leaving Clarisse to fight the Bulls on her own (What? We had _hated_ each other since day one, and things hadn't changed any over the past year. Her and her siblings were the ones who teased me the most the past year!) But I knew that Percy and Annabeth would want to defend the camp, so I had to join in the defense. Besides, it would give me a chance to see if Ventus would work against them, it was the main reason I asked for celestial steel instead of bronze. Annabeth quickly grabbed a spear from a fallen Mars camper and stabbed it into it’s side, but it did nothing to the bull. One of the bulls charged at Clarisse only for Tyson to grab it by it’s horns, stopping it. I quickly dove under it and stabbed Ventus into it’s chest . . . thus learning that being under a dying Colchis Bull was _not_ the best place to be, as they tended to explode.  By the time I recovered, the second Bull had been destroyed as well.

Clarisse, while grateful that the Bulls had been destroyed, was not happy to see us. "You _two_ ruin _everything_! I had everything under control!"

"Good to see you too, Clarisse," Percy said, while I said "You're welcome. Now do you see what I meant about training as a unit?" I was looking down at the camp, while Annabeth and Percy talked about Tyson, Percy had finally realized what Tyson was. On the surface, the camp didn't look so different, but if you looked closely. . . well, things were obviously wrong. You could almost _smell_ the danger in the air, and the counselors and fauns were stockpiling weapons. The forest was sickly-Thalia's pine in particular, and the burn marks from the bulls were like living scars.

It was then that I heard something that caught my attention. "We need to carry the wounded back to the Big House, let Tantalus know what's happened."

"WHAT? Tantalus! What's he doing here?" I asked in shock.

"He's the activities director."

Percy objected before I could. "Chiron is the activities director. And where's Argus? He's head of security. He should be here."

"Argus got fired. You three have been gone too long. Things are changing." That's when Clarisse pointed out Thalia's tree. Percy and Annabeth's shock were palpable when they saw it. But I noticed something I hadn't before, a puncture in the trunk about the size of a bullet hole. And from the hole, a blue sap oozed out.


	3. A Surprising Claim

 The camp had taken on aspects of a military school: everyone seemed tenser than a private around a drill sergeant, and nearly everyone was doing something with their weapons. No one said "Hi" or "Welcome back" to me or Percy, and their mood put a dampener on even my usual, optimistic mood. The only one who wasn't affected by the other campers was Tyson, who was interested in everything to do with the camp; whenever he saw something he always asked "Whasthat!" When Tyson found out about the cabins, he was amazed, but Percy seemed embarrassed. Probably because we weren't supposed to be alive. About sixty years ago, the Delphic oracle had made a prophecy that said that a demigod child of the Big Three-Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto, would be responsible for the destruction or salvation of Olympus when they turned sixteen. And so, in an attempt to prevent the prophecy (a stupid idea in my opinion-in the myths, whenever you tried that, you usually ended up causing it's fulfillment) they decided to not have anymore demigod children, but Percy and I were born anyway, and Thalia before us.

When we arrived at the Big House, we found Chiron packing to leave. Tyson immediately shouted out "Pony!"

Chiron looked upset when he heard that. "I beg your pardon?"

"Chiron, what's happening? You're not . . . leaving?" Annabeth sounded like she was about to break down into tears.

Chiron greeted us. "Hello, child. Percy, my goodness; you've grown over the year! And Alex, welcome back; I can't say that I'm surprised that you came despite my orders."

"What did you expect, for me to stay in Greece with the Doc? And Clarisse said something about . . . you getting fired?"

"Ah, well, someone had to take the blame. Your father was most upset. The tree he'd created from the spirit of his daughter, poisoned! Mr. D had to punish someone."

"Besides himself, you mean," Percy said. Percy was upset, and I didn't blame him. Bacchus hated us, and the feeling was mutual. In fact, he was my only sibling that I might hate more than Mars.

"But this is crazy! Chiron, you couldn't have had anything to do with poisoning Thalia's tree!" Annabeth seemed on the edge of hysteria.

"Nevertheless, some in Olympus do not trust me now under the circumstances."

Tyson finally made himself known again, by saying "Pony?"

"My dear young Cyclops! I am a _centaur_."

"Chiron, what about my sister? _What happened to her_?"

"The poison used on Thalia's tree is something from the Underworld. Some venom even I have never seen. It must have come from a monster quite deep in the depths of Tartarus." I wasn't so sure. It almost looked like it was dying of old age to me. (And yes, a tree can die of old age.)

"Then we know who's responsible. Kro-"

"Do not invoke the Titan Lord's name, Percy. Especially not here, not now."

"But last summer he tried to start a civil war in Olympus! This has to be his idea. He probably got Luke to do it, that traitor."

"Perhaps. But I fear I am going to be held responsible because I did not prevent it and I cannot cure it. The tree has only a few weeks of life left unless . . ."

I perked up at that. "Unless what?"

"No. A foolish thought. The whole valley is feeling the shock of the poison. The magical borders are deteriorating. The camp is dying. Only one source of magic would be strong enough to reverse the poison, and it was lost centuries ago." I was intrigued. I thought I knew everything there was to know about the Greek mythological world, but I'd never heard of something that could do that. Except for maybe one thing, but I wasn't sure about _it_.

Percy was intrigued as well. "What is it? We'll go find it!"

Chiron had finished packing by now, and he focused his attention on us. "Listen, I didn't want either of you to come back this year. It's much too dangerous. But now that you are here, _stay_ here. Train hard. Learn how to fight. But both of you must promise me that you will not act rashly and _stay here_." Chiron left soon after that, and Tyson and Annabeth started crying a river. Percy and I tried to comfort them, but we knew that it would be hard to do, especially considering that we didn't know if things would be all right.

It was getting to be dusk by then, so we filed in for dinner. Percy was the only one sitting alone. Mr. D was already sitting down, at my table, with a friend. Last year, when I'd met him, I saw the real Dionysus for the briefest second before I saw the Mist-covered illusion that everyone else saw. Now, I saw only the _real_ Mr. D-a fat man who'd been to far too many drunken parties, his belly bulging out over his pants. He was in direct contrast to his friend, who couldn't have weighed more than fifty pounds, easily nothing more than skin and bones. It was hard for me to believe that he wasn't dead, until I noticed that he _was_ dead. Looking at him from the right angle, you could see right through him, an obvious trait of something from the Underworld. He was dressed in the orange jumpsuit of a prison, and he was numbered 0001. Dionysus turned to his friend and pointed at me and Percy, saying "Those boys you need to watch. Sons of Poseidon and Zeus, you know."

"Ah, them." Obviously they'd been talking about us ever since Mr. Skin-and-Bones had arrived. "I am Tantalus. On special assignment here until, well, until my Lord Dionysus decides otherwise." _Or until I decide to send you back_ , I thought. "And you two, Perseus Jackson and Alexander Summers, I _do_ expect you to refrain from causing any more trouble."

"Trouble?" we asked. Neither of us knew what he could be talking about. Then Mr. D snapped his fingers and two newspapers appeared. Two headlines stood out. The first was _Thirteen-Year-Old Boy Torches Gymnasium_ , and it had Percy's picture next to it. The other read _Renowned Archaeologist and Assistant Discovers Mythological Tomb: Loses Large Number of Diggers to Booby Traps_ , and it had Doc Egan and me in the picture. My hand reflexively moved to Stethno's medallion as I thought of the local help that had died because of her and her sister.

"Yes, trouble. I understand you two caused plenty of it last summer." Yeah, like it was our fault that our parents nearly went to war. Just then a satyr arrived with Tantalus' food. I couldn't help but laugh when the food and drink ran from him. When he glared at me, I said "What did you expect, _brother_? Father will never let you taste food or drink again after what you did." (He was unfortunately a son of the Greek version of my father, and one that I'd never wanted meet.)

"I'm going to keep an eye on you, bastard. I don't want any problems at my camp."

Percy responded before I could. "Your camp already has problems . . . sir." D sent him to his table, and decided to keep Tyson at our table until they had decided what to do with him. I gave my usual offering, and prayed out loud for Dad and Hades to take Tantalus back before he could do too much damage. Many of the campers snickered when they heard that, my brothers just glared at me, D looked like he wanted to turn me into a squirrel, while Tanty obviously wanted to eat me. T then gave an opening speech, saying out loud that he wanted to torture and eat us, and then announcing that the chariot races were being reinstated. I paled at that. I'd seen _Ben-Hur_ and I knew how dangerous they could be. Tantalus knew how dangerous they were too; if he didn't before, then Michael Yew reminded him. His attention then turned to Tyson. He insulted Tyson a number of times before asking where he should stay.

Before I could offer to let him stay with me, everyone gasped, me included. Because just over Tyson's head, there was a glowing, green trident. And no one was more shocked than Percy. I could tell he was starting to question whether being claimed by Neptune was actually an honor or a joke. Tanty just saw it as another way to make fun of Percy and Tyson. "Well! I think we know where to put the beast now. By the gods, I can see the family resemblance!"

I wanted to blast him into Tartarus just for that! No one _ever_ picked on Percy when I was around, and I wasn't about to let them start now. I stood up, charged towards Tanty and punched him in the gut and then kneed him in the groin. He may be dead, but he sure felt solid. When he went down, I gave him one more punch, breaking his nose. "What was that for?"

"NO ONE insults Percy, Tantalus! NOBODY! Especially not a cursed, cannibalistic fool like you!" I marched off to my cabin, not in the mood for anything fun tonight.


	4. A Chariot Race and a Quest

 Over the next week, I saw a side of Percy I didn't think existed. Whenever Tyson wasn't around, Percy denied that they were related. That really surprised me, especially when Sally told me that Percy had been defending him all school year: _that_ sounded more like the Percy that I knew. I never knew Percy to bend to peer pressure, although I must admit that there were a lot of campers upset about Tyson (the only ones that didn't distance themselves from Percy because of him were Charlie, Jake, Silena and myself.) The one time he _did_ defend Tyson, it ended up sending his and Annabeth's relationship nearly back to the way it had been before last year's quest. Of course, that made nearly everyone feel better about their chances at the chariot race-everyone had been scared that they'd work together, making them unstoppable (considering Minerva invented the chariot and Neptune created horses.)

 

Personally, I had no interest in joining the race, so I had time to obsess over the one thing that had been bugging me since I came back to New York, the eight numbers the Graeae had dictated. What was their purpose, and how could they be "the location you seek?" Finally, the night before the race I grew so frustrated that I threw it down, cursing "Ares!" Wait a minute, Ares? Ares . . . Ares . . . Ares! Of course! Project Ares was something that Lex Luthor had been working on though Season Six of Smallville. The prototype for Project Ares, a Green Beret named Wes Keenan, had used his dying breath to gasp out eight digits that had Lois going crazy until she tore them in two and realized that they were coordinates. I knew it was possible that it was the same was true of these numbers, but that didn't help unless I had a map. Of course I knew the best person to turn to for that, and I fished out a drachma. "Oh, Iris! Accept my offering. Minerva on Mount Olympus."

 

 Thankfully my sister answered, I had been a little worried about that as she seemed to hate being called by her Roman name. "Summers, what do _you_ want?"

 

"Geez, sis, is that any way to treat your little brother?"

 

"Your people sacked my city, took my identity, replaced me! Traitors and usurpers, curse them! Let all Romans be destroyed! My children shall avenge me!" And with that, she slashed her hand through the IM, ending the call.

 

_Well, that was rude. I wonder what that was about?_ I thought. Then I figured, that I'd just have to figure that out later. To be on the safe side though, I decided I could never allow the _graeci_ to learn about my heritage, not even Percy. Or at least, not until Father decided it was safe.

 

* * *

 The next morning was hot and humid, for New York; for me, coming from Greece, it felt quite normal. As the teams gathered around the track, Tanty announced the rules. Charlie's chariot was an amalgam of bronze and steel, drawn by automaton horses, and without a doubt covered with traps of all kinds. Clarisse had a blood-red chariot drawn by skeleton horses-a gift from her dad no doubt. Lee Fletcher's was designed like the classical figure of his father's "sun chariot" and was covered in gold. The Stoll's chariot clearly hadn't been used since the races were banned, it was as green as the Statue of Liberty (a version of Athena, according to Annabeth. Minerva just blushed when I had asked her about it five months ago.)

 

The race started when everyone had lined up, and the Hermes & Apollo chariots went out inside of twenty feet, making me glad I had decided to stay out of it when I spotted an enormous flock of birds. I took a close look at them (I had extremely good eyesight, closer to an eagles' thanks to Father) and thought I saw something odd about them. Then I caught a scent in the air: sulfur, coming from the birds. That's when I realized that I knew them from one of the tales I heard on Olympus. Hercules was very proud of what he'd done in his life, and enjoyed telling his story whenever someone gave him the chance, and it was thanks to him that I recognized the birds. I immediately ran out of the stadium and activated Ventus’ bow form and started shooting them, but I quickly realized that it wouldn't be enough, especially when they started diving in at us, taking Charlie out of the race, not that anyone besides Tanty was paying any attention to it anymore. That's when Percy and Annabeth noticed the birds and started fighting them with no more luck than me. I tried using what aerokinetic powers I had against them, but they just got madder. While Annabeth and Percy ran for the Big House to follow my brothers' example, I decided things were desperate enough to use my electrokinetic powers and started calling down lightning, blasting dozens of them. The Stymphalian birds were stubborn though and kept coming back, until Percy and Annabeth came back with a stereo and started playing Dean Martin music (who knows why, he's a pretty good singer, even if he sings in Italian at times. I thought Heracles made a terrible sound to scare them off,) and yet oddly enough it actually _worked_. Between the arrows of Apollo and my lightning, we annihilated the birds, no more than five or ten could have escaped alive.

 

Unfortunately, Tanty was more concerned with the race. He crowned Clarisse champion, and sent Annabeth, Percy and me to the kitchen, actually blaming _us_ , or at least Percy and Annabeth’s "bad chariot driving skills" for the attack. Percy told him to "go chase a doughnut," I just had to laugh at that. The one good thing about our punishment was that it gave Percy and Annabeth time to reconcile and a chance to plan. Percy told us about a dream that he'd had about Grover, and what he said made me think that it just _might_ be possible that they were talking about _it_. Annabeth seemed to agree with me "If he's really found it, and if we could retrieve it . . ."

 

"Hold on, you make it sound like this . . . whatever-it-is is the only thing that could save the camp. What _is_ it?"

 

Yep, Annabeth and I were thinking along the same lines, so I helped out with the explanation. "Percy, what do you get when you skin a sheep?"

 

"Messy?"

 

Annabeth was a little upset with that answer. "A fleece. The coat of a ram/sheep is called a fleece. And if that ram happens to have golden wool-"

 

 "The Golden Fleece. Are you two serious?"

 

 Annabeth then told Percy the background of the Fleece and Jason's quest to bring it to Greece, ending with, "It can revitalize any land where it's placed. It cures sickness, strengthens nature, cleans up pollution-"

 

 "It could cure Thalia's tree."

 

 "And thanks to the Graeae, we now know exactly where it is." Annabeth and Percy looked at me confused. "You still don't know the significance of the numbers? Eh, it took me a while to figure it out too, but they're coordinates, latitude and longitude."

 

 "So we can rescue Grover and save the camp at the same time. It's perfect!"

 

"A little _too_ perfect, don't you think? What if it's a trap."

 

 "Ah, Annabeth! Don't ruin Percy's good mood with your pessimism. After all it's a sea, his home turf. How hard could it be?"

 

 Annabeth couldn't silence her pessimism however. "We'll have to talk to Tantalus, get approval for a quest. He'll say no."

 

 "Who says we have to get permission? I didn't have permission when I went after you guys, I just left."

 

 "Or we could tell him tonight at the campfire in front of everybody. The whole camp will hear. They'll pressure him. He won't be able to refuse."

 

* * *

 That night around the campfire, Tanty was just about to make an announcement about the schedule when Percy said "We have an idea to save the camp."

 

 Tanty wasn't impressed. "Indeed. Well, if it has anything to do with chariots-"

 

 "We know where the Golden Fleece is." Before my dear brother could say anything else or stop us, Percy told his dreams involving Grover and Annabeth reminded everyone what the Fleece could do.

 

 "The Sea of Monsters? That's hardly an exact location. You wouldn't even know where to look."

 

 "Actually, we know _exactly_ where it is. We've known where it is since before we arrived at camp. 30 degrees, 31 minutes north, 75 degrees, 12 minutes west. Your exact location, all we need to do is go and get it." The campers quickly drowned out Tantys' opposition, but instead of granting the quest to Percy, he gave it to his favorite camper, Clarisse. There was a lot of arguing about that, even growing to a food fight, but Tanty put a stop to that by telling his story, not even Percy dared object to him now.  
 "Good. And let me remind everyone-no one leaves this camp without my permission. Anyone who tries . . . well, if they survive the attempt they will be expelled forever, but it won't come to that. The harpies will be enforcing curfew from now on, and they are always hungry! Good night my dear campers. Sleep well." _If you think that is going to stop us_ , I thought, _you've got another thing coming, brother, because the four of us are going, and you can't stop us. Besides, even if you do expel me, I've still got Camp Jupiter available to me._


	5. Escapes

 After the announcement that _Clarisse_ of all people getting the quest, I went to Annabeth and pulled her aside. "What are you doing Alex? We need to get to our cabins."

 

"Not before we talk."

 

 "What about?"

 

 "Tyson." Annabeth blanched at that. "And the Fleece." I'd been planning to talk to her about Tyson mostly, but considering how pale she'd gotten, I knew we'd have to talk about something else, just to keep her spirits up. "Listen, I know you don't like Nep-Poseidon's kids, usually. And I know that you don't like Cyclops, but why do you have to treat Tyson like he's just another monster? He's already saved Percy twice, and yet you keep treating Tyson like the plague and you nearly ended your friendship with Percy. I want to know _why_."

 

 "You already know why."

 

 "I know why you hate Cyclops in general, but why Tyson? He could become one of the good Cyclops that work in the forges, but not if you keep treating him like dirt. You treat him like a monster, and he'll _become_ a monster, so why?"

 

 "You really want to know why? They were the reason Thalia died!"

 

 "I already know that! Luke told me what happened, but I don't think that's the real reason, so tell me!" I knew that by now, my eyes had gone from their usual sky-blue color to storm-cloud-black from my anger. It seemed like Annabeth would never tell me the real reason she didn't like Tyson.

 

 Finally, after a five-minute wait, I heard her whisper "I'm scared, alright? I'm terrified of Cyclops, especially after one of them sounded like my dad. If I'd thought that we didn't need Tyson, I'd have probably killed him at the school." She paused for a minute, letting that sink in, and letting me cool off (I'd been known to electrocute people when I got mad enough,) and then she asked "What about the harpies?"

 

 "Right. Come on, we'll go to my place, and then we need to plan."

 

 "Your place? First, isn't that off limits? And second, aren't we a little young for that?"

 

 I stared at her, uncomprehending. Then it hit me. "Get your mind out of the gutter, Annabeth. I'd expect something like that from one of Hermes or Aphrodite's kids, but not you. Are you sure that you're Athena's? Besides, you're just not my type." She just laughed and we headed to my cabin. Gods, I hate using the Greek names just to fit in!

 

 "What's that supposed to mean? You don't like smart girls?"

 

 "Please, it's not your brains that's the problem, it's your anatomy that turns me off." Annabeth stared at me in shock before jogging to catch up. We then talked and planned for about two hours, discussing what to bring and what we might encounter, until we heard Percy cry out "GUYS, I need some back-up! Monsters have crossed the border!" We ran for the shore, where we found Percy just staring out to sea. "Hey, what's wrong cuz? We heard you calling for help."

 

 "Me too. Heard you yell. 'Bad things are attacking!'" I hadn't even noticed Tyson until then.

  
 "I didn't call you guys. I'm fine." He then told us that he'd met Mercury and that Mercury had given him a thermos of winds and some multivitamins. _That_ caught my attention, those gifts sounded like the ones given to the most famous person to pass through the Sea of Monsters: Ulysses. I was starting to get a really optimistic feeling about this, until Percy and Annabeth started arguing about Tyson, again. Eventually Annabeth yielded and Percy asked Neptune for help. I was starting to get nervous when I saw the wakes, but I nearly panicked when I saw the hippocampus. "Uh, Percy? Are you sure it's safe for me to go with you? I don't want your dad vaporizing me and causing another war."

 

 "Well, when you put it that way, maybe you better follow us in the air." So while the three of them rode the hippocampi out to sea, I turned on the flying shoes and followed them, while also buying them time to escape by shooting the harpies that had found us.

 

 We soon found the ship that would take us to Florida, the _Princess Andromeda_ , a little ironic if you ask me, considering that Andromeda had been saved by Percy's namesake. I landed on it, and when I noticed that they would have a lot of trouble getting up, I found a rope and dropped it down to them. I was just starting to get comfortable on the seemingly deserted ship, when the breeze shifted and I caught a strong scent of sulfur, and I wasn't the only one. Tyson also noticed the scent of monsters. "So, what do you smell?"

  
 "Something bad," Tyson answered, just as I said, "Monsters. Lots and lots of monsters. Enough that I wouldn't mind if Poseidon destroyed the ship." Annabeth ignored that and found us an empty cabin and we decided to rest for the night and explore the ship in the morning. Annabeth had an entire cabin to herself, while Percy and Tyson took a second. Me on the other hand, I snuck up into the ventilation and made myself comfortable, and went out like a light. Of course, that doesn't mean that I was dead to the world. While I slept, I heard Luke's voice talking to . . . _Chris Rodriguez_? Luke was saying, "Of course I know that they're here. Our spy told me that they were the ones that figured out how to save the camp."

  
 "What are you going to do to them?"

  
 "Oh, probably feed them to the drakon, assuming they're foolish enough to get caught."

 

 "And if not? We might fail _Him_ if they escape. And you know how he gets if someone fails him."

  
 "Please, considering they've got Percy and a Cyclops, there's no chance they'd escape us." After that, they're voices faded to the point that even I couldn't hear them, and the rest of the night passed without further incident.

 

* * *

 The next morning, we were awakened by the ship's whistle and the captain announcing, "Good morning, passengers! We'll be at sea all day today. Excellent weather for the poolside mambo party! Don't forget million-dollar bingo in the Kraken Lounge at one o'clock, and for our _special guests_ , disemboweling practice on the Promenade!" I shot up at that. Percy and Tyson seemed unsure of what he had said, until Annabeth and I stuck our heads in the room (her through the door, me through the ventilation shaft in the ceiling) and asked in unison, " _Disemboweling_ practice?"

 

 Once we were dressed, we noticed a few odd things: first, nobody asked who we were; second, everyone seemed to be in a trance; third, the monsters were mixed in with the humans; and fourth, the humans made no notice of the monsters at all. We _might_ have stayed for breakfast, but we heard two reptilian voices coming, and Percy and the others ran into the women's restroom. Now, emergency or not, I would never do anything _that_ embarrassing, so I slipped on my invisibility hat and just melted into the crowd. While we were hiding, Luke passed by, and by the time it was safe for us to reveal ourselves, Annabeth was determined to take him prisoner. We passed by Chris, and a number of monsters having some "disemboweling practice" on a dummy with a Camp Half-Blood shirt. We eventually found Luke's cabin, where we able to eavesdrop on a conversation, thanks to Tyson, until they overheard us, and we were captured. "Well, if it isn't my three favorite cousins. Come right in."

  
 Luke had changed over the past year. Before, he had been loose and a rebel, casual and carefree, someone you could easily befriend. Now, he was cold, hard and aloof, someone who always carries out orders-and never questions them; in short, someone that was easy to hate. "Well, Percy, Alex. We let you survive another year. I hope you appreciate it."

  
 "You poisoned my sister!" I accused.

  
 "Right to the point, eh? Okay, sure I poisoned the tree. So what?" I was _furious_ with him! He actually sounded like it _didn't matter_ that Thalia had been poisoned! For a few seconds, all I saw was red, and I managed to fight myself out of the grip of Agrius and charged Luke, intent on strangling him. But when I was only three feet away, something hit my head, and I was knocked unconscious. I woke up a few minutes later to Luke saying, "You see, I still have friends at camp who keep me posted."

  
 "Spies you mean."

  
 "How many insults from your father can you stand, Percy? You think he's grateful to you? You think Poseidon cares for you any more than he cares for this monster?" Tyson growled at that, but Luke wasn't done yet. "And what about Alex? He hasn't even been claimed! Do you really think that _his_ father cares about him? The gods are _so_ using you, Percy. Do you have any idea what's in store for you if you reach your sixteenth birthday? Has Chiron even _told_ you the prophecy?"

  
 "I know what I need to know. Like who my enemies are."

  
 "And who your friends are, right Percy?" I would have spoken up sooner, but I knew it would have been difficult to speak coherently till now.

  
 "Well, welcome back to the land of the living, Alex. And just in time to go see old Dead-head, for the last time!"

  
 "Luke, wait! Your father sent us."

  
 "Don't- _even_ -mention him!"

  
 "He told us to take this boat. I thought it was just for a ride, but he sent us here to find you. He told me he won't give up on you, no matter how angry you are." I had to admit, Percy could make a pretty good speech when necessary. But I couldn't help but notice that it didn't do any good. My observation was confirmed with the next words out of Luke's mouth.

 

 " _Angry? Give up on me?_ He abandoned me! I want Olympus destroyed! Every throne crushed to rubble! You tell Hermes it's going to happen, too. Each time a half-blood joins us, the Olympians grow weaker, and _we_ grow stronger. _He_ grows stronger." Luke was pointing at the gold sarcophagus at the back of the room.

  
 There was something utterly _wrong_ with that box, something incredibly evil in there. So purely evil and so wrong that it seemed to make the temperature drop twenty degrees. Then it hit me, "Grandfather." I didn't dare say his name, not in his presence.

  
 Luke was confused by that. "What do you mean, 'grandfather?' How could he be your grandfather?"

  
 "Because I am the son of the one that got away."

  
 "You? A son of Zeus?" Luke started laughing like a maniac. "That's ridiculous! But in any case, he is reforming. Little by little, we're calling his life force out of the pit. With every recruit who pledges our cause, another piece appears."

  
 "That's disgusting!"

  
 "Your mother was born from Zeus' split skull, Annabeth. I wouldn't talk. Soon enough there will be enough of the titan lord so that we can make him whole again. We will piece together a new body for him, one worthy of the forges of Hephaestus."

  
 " _A rejected son will seek solace; And ally himself with the prisoner who is formless_." I quoted.

  
 "What? What did you say?"

  
 "It's nothing, just an old saying." Just then, a few security guards came in and Luke told Oreius to deliver us to the Aethiopian drakon. When we got to the lifeboat deck, Tyson threw Oreius into a swimming pool. I noticed that a security guard was running for the alarm, so I threw my spear at him, and it hit him in the middle of his back. (Don't worry, I threw it at him backwards, it was the butt end that hit him.) We ran for a lifeboat and cut it loose, and thanks to Mercury's thermos, we made a quick getaway, even if Percy needed to surf his way towards us.


	6. CSS Birmingham

After about two hours on the lifeboat, we finally spotted land. Annabeth was shocked by how far we'd traveled. "That's Virginia Beach! Oh my gods, how did the _Princess Andromeda_ travel so far overnight? That's like-"

 

 "Five hundred and thirty nautical miles." Percy answered so quickly and automatically it was almost like he was a computer.

  
 "How did you know that?"

  
 "I-I'm not sure."

  
 "Percy, what's our current position?" What was Annabeth thinking? How could Percy possibly know where we were?

  
 And yet, he did. "36 degrees, 44 minutes north, 76 degrees, 2 minutes west." Again, as quick and automatic as a computer. "Whoa, how did I know that?"

  
 "Because of your father. You have perfect bearings at sea. That is _so_ cool." Annabeth then guided us to a demigod hideout that she had made with Thalia and Luke on their way to Camp Half-Blood five years ago. I could tell that even the thought of Annabeth and Luke together made Percy upset, or maybe the word was jealous. Wait a minute, Percy jealous of Luke? I filed that away for another time, a time when we weren't running for our lives.

  
 We rested for about an hour before heading out to the coast. "So, Percy. Do you think that your dad will give us another ride, or do we have to find our own way to Polyphemus?"

  
 "Who knows, Annabeth? I _hope_ he will, but with Alex here, who knows."

  
 "Um, guys? I don't think we have to worry about that right now."

  
 "What are you talking about Alex? What do we have to worry about besides getting the Fleece?"

  
 "I can smell sulfur. And this is even worse than the Hydra."

  
 "What could be worse than the Hydra?"

  
 "Well, there's the Kraken, the Cetus or the Leviathan. But they're probably a long ways from here." Just then, the sea in front of us started to boil, almost as if something was rising from the deep. "I may have spoken too soon." And unfortunately, I had, for before us was a sea monster.  It was at least 500 feet long and 70 feet wide across its belly, with 50 foot spikes along its spine, while it’s skin was yellow with green and black spots, and it’s mouth opened in three parts.  I immediately recognized the monster from my studies on Olympus six months earlier. "Um, guys. We've got a problem."

  
 "YOU THINK?" Annabeth yelled at me. "How are we supposed to kill this thing? I've never even heard of this monster!"

  
 "This is one of Juno's monsters, the sea monster Perfidia! Father told me about this while I was on Olympus. Unfortunately, he never said if it was ever defeated." Annabeth then pulled out a bow and started shooting at it's eyes and mouth, Tyson picked up rocks and started throwing them at Perfidia, while Percy and I pulled out our swords and slashed at whatever we could reach.

  
 After we had been fighting about fifteen minutes, I started hearing things; I could have sworn that I heard cannon fire. I would have written it off to my imagination or sensitive hearing, until I noticed explosions on the back of Perfidia. I decided to help the newcomers out by getting Perfidia's attention to focus out to sea. Eventually it got the idea and turned it's attention to me and the _Confederate-style ironclad?_ Eventually the ironclad got a lucky shot in (a cannonball in the mouth) and Perfidia exploded into a mountain's worth of sulfur. It was only then that I noticed that the flag was not one of the Confederate flags, but one that seemed to belong to Mars. Then, from inside the ship, we heard a very unwelcome voice. "Losers. But I suppose I have to rescue you. Come aboard." Clarisse, oh joy.

  
 After we were given a tour of the ship, (which _was_ a Confederate ironclad, with some slight upgrades, including an anti-aircraft gun from WWII and GPS navigation system,) Clarisse sat us down to dinner and told us that Tanty banned us from camp for eternity and Mr. D would kill us if we came back (I just _love_ my brothers, don't you?) And apparently Mars gets a tribute from the losers of wars, the _Birmingham_ being the South's tribute, and he gave the ship to Clarisse for her quest. (Well, she also had the choice of a Huey, but decided the boat would be more practical.) Also, Clarisse had only the ship to help her out, not even her brothers and sisters offered to help her out on her quest.

 

* * *

 That night, I had a dream, but it didn't involve Saturn or anything else Greco-Roman. _I was standing on the bank of the Thames River in London, and it was 2004, three years ago. (Don't ask me how I knew that, I just did.) Two people stood in front of an Egyptian obelisk, I think it's called Cleopatra's Needle. The man was dark-skinned, with piercing brown eyes, a goatee and the face of an Egyptian pharaoh. The woman had white skin, blond hair, and deep blue eyes. "You're sure? Absolutely sure?" the man asked the woman._

  
_"She told me this is where it begins. If we want to defeat the enemy, we must start with the obelisk. We must find out the truth." I noticed that she was wearing an amulet, one that almost looked like a kind of knot._

  
_"I don't like it. Won't you call on her help?"_

  
_"No. I know my limits Julius. If I tried it again . . ."_

  
_The man, Julius, then pulled an ivory boomerang and a long stick out of a bag.  "Ruby, if we fail-"_

  
_"We can't fail. The world depends on us." They kissed and then started chanting in a language that sounded a little like Arabic. As they chanted, the Needle started to glow ..._

 

* * *

 

I woke with a start, wondering why I had a dream that seemed to do more with Egypt than our quest. But maybe Egypt had more to do with this than I thought. After all, Phoebe’s prophecy had several lines in Egyptian hieroglyphs that I had yet to even begin to translate. But that was a problem for another day. Right now, we were nearing the lair of Scylla and Charybdis, the main entrance to the Sea of Monsters. "So, what's your plan Clarisse? Scylla or Charybdis?"

  
 "Charybdis, of course. Scylla's too high to shoot, while Charybdis just sits down there at the center of her maelstrom. So, we set a course straight for her, train our guns on her, and blow her to Tartarus!"

  
 "Are you mad, Clarisse?"

  
 "HAH! You afraid to get wet?" Percy showed up about thirty minutes later, and Clarisse explained her plan.

  
 By the time we were nearing Charybdis, the ship had been battered by ten-foot waves at least half a dozen times, and the boiler room had heated up to the point that the zombies were vaporizing in the heat. Tyson left to fix the boiler, and we shot at Charybdis. From where I stood, it didn't look like we had done much damage to here, let alone blow her to Tartarus. Then Charybdis spit everything out, including the cannonball that had managed to actually hit her (and it blew a hole in the side of the ship.) When the wave hit us, I got knocked out of the ship and into the sea, I watched helpless as Scylla attacked the ship. I was so focused on watching the ship that I forgot about the tide caused by Charybdis and was swallowed whole.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Perfidia is one of the many monsters from Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. To be more specific, it appears in the second season episode The Wedding of Alcmene, where Hera uses it in yet another attempt on Hercules' life. Naturally Jason and Hercules defeat it in a very different manner than I have described.


	7. Belly of the Beast

 I eventually ended up in Charybdis' stomach, and quickly climbed onto the wreckage of one of her earlier meals, ironically the USS _Cyclops_. I went to the bridge and, upon finding the intercom system, linked up my IPod to play one of my favourite songs until someone answered, hopefully.

  
_Up to my ears_   
_In bitter tears_   
_Can't believe I've sunk this low_   
_As I walk the plankton_   
_Inner sanctum._   
_Got outta Dodge,_   
_Sailed on a bon-less_   
_Bon voyage_   
_You said North_   
_I headed South_   
_Tossed overboad_   
_Good Lord, that's a really large mouth..._   
_I'm sleeping with fishes here,_   
_In the belly of the whale._   
_I'm highly nutritious here,_   
_In the belly of the whale._   
_Bad food, lousy atmosphere._   
_I don't wanna bellyache_   
_How long is this gonna take?_

 

 After five plays, I pretty much have the lyrics memorized, and no one has come.  Am I alone down here?

  
_Woke up this morning kinda blue,_   
_Thinking through that age-old question:_   
_How to exit a whale's digestion?_   
_It might behoove me to be heaved,_   
_Head out like a human comet..._   
_Guys, you might not wanna rhyme with comet_   
_I'm sleeping with fishes here,_   
_In the belly of the whale._   
_I'm highly nutritious here,_   
_In the belly of the whale._   
_I'm ready to reappear._   
_I don't wanna bellyache,_   
_Lord, how long's this gonna take?_

 

 Ten plays and I've nearly given up hope of rescue. A meal for Charybdis, this can't actually be my fate . . . can it? My dreams foretold the future, didn't they?  Would I never see Percy or Nico again?

  
_End times, they come rolling around,_   
_Enzymes they come breaking us down to the core_   
_The good Lord grants we all get a second chance._   
_I'm one of the dishes here,_   
_In the belly of the whale_   
_They say I'm delicious here,_   
_In the belly of the whale,_   
_Lord, please make him chuck it all,_   
_It 's a gut call_   
_In the belly of the whale._

 

 Fifteen plays in, and I suddenly hear something. Gods, what took her so long to eat something else?

  
_I'm in the belly of the, in the belly of the whale._   
_I'm in the in the, belly of the whale._   
_I'm in the belly of the, in the belly of the whale._   
_I'm in the belly..._   
_In the belly of the whale_   
_In an underwater jail_   
_It's a tight squeez, it's a-gettin' to me,_   
_But it's roomier_   
_Than the tail, sailor,_   
_Got my flow free_   
_Like a salmon to the sea_   
_From the L.A. Symphony._   
_I'm a paddleboat_   
_Paddlin' in their wake,_   
_A fake free-styler,_   
_But my unemployment pays._   
_I'm avoiding cliches_   
_Like "whale of a tale" stale_   
_Or "you can't keep_   
_A good man down,"_   
_'Cause you can_   
_And I've been there,_   
_I've been expectorated._   
_I'm elated!_   
_I'm free like Willie!_   
_Happy Day!_   
_Oops,_   
_That's a bit of a cliché._   
_In the belly..._

 

 "Could you _please_ stop playing that stupid song, Summers?!” Clarisse demanded before turning to Reordan, one of her crewmembers.  “You idiot! Better keep my electric grid up and running or I’ll plug your head into it!  Tyson, go down below and make certain those boilers are working!  We're going to need those engines if we're going to escape."

 

 "Huh, so you actually like Tyson now?" I asked. At least before the chariot race, she had been one of his biggest detractors.

  
 "Yeah, well I was reminded what his relatives are capable of when they're given a job. The only one better for machines is Hephaestus himself, probably.  Say, I don't suppose you have a way out?"

  
 "Not before, I didn't. But now, with the Birmingham, I just might," I answered with a grin. "I assume you can steer the ship, right?" Clarisse quickly confirmed that she did (sarcastically, of course,) and I got on the anti-aircraft gun. As soon as Clarisse was in the wheelhouse, I started firing at the lining of the stomach and cut us a doorway out to the open ocean. Then I turned the guns around. "This is for thinking you could eat a son of Jupiter," I said with a growl, and I started shooting every part of Charybdis I could.

  
 As the water and blood rushed in from all my holes, I ran to join Clarisse in the wheelhouse. "You sure we can survive this, Nygma?" she asked.

  
 "Easily, I've created an air bubble around the ship. We'll go straight to the top as soon as we're out of this."

  
 "An air bubble? And do we have enough air to breathe?"

  
 "Well, considering your ship is crewed by the living dead, the only people who need to breathe are you, me and Tyson, so we'll have plenty of air.” And as I predicted, we quickly, and safely rose to the surface, where I broke the air bubble. “Now, set your course to 30 degrees, 31 minutes North, 75 degrees, 12 minutes West. It’s time to find that fleece.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, obviously I don't own the song that Alex plays over the Cyclops, Belly of the Whale belongs to the band Newsboys. Also, the USS Cyclops actually existed; it was a Navy collier-a cargo ship specifically designed to carry coal, the lifeblood of any modern navy of it's time. It was lost in the Bermuda Triangle sometime after March 4, 1918. It was last seen leaving Barbados, on it's way to Baltimore, and has never been found.


	8. I am Noman

As we steamed to the southwest, I pondered on the two things. First, why would Percy be jealous of Luke being around Annabeth? Nothing seemed to fit, unless-maybe Percy was in love? Well, why not? It was the only logical explanation, Percy was in love with Annabeth. The other one was a little more difficult. As Greek demigods (or in my case, supposedly Greek,) we weren't taught much about Egypt. In fact, we were told absolutely _nothing_ about Egypt or it's pantheon. The only thing I knew about Ra was that he was the equivalent of Jupiter in that he was the king of the Egyptian pantheon, that he was a sun god, and that he had a bird head. Unfortunately, I had little time to ponder, as we soon arrived at the island.

 Polyphemus' island was postcard perfect, except for the ominous rope bridge and the carnivorous sheep. The only nice things about it was that it had a nice cliff to hide the _Birmingham_ . . . and a pirate ship? "Well, I'd guess Jackson made it here. That seems like the kind of ship he'd choose.”

 “True. Now let’s get going, the fleece has to be here somewhere,” I stated. Since neither of us wanted to climb, I activated my flying shoes and we flew up. (Although I have to admit, Clarisse didn't enjoy it, no matter how well we started getting along recently.)  The two of us explored the island, but all we found was a herd of sheep. "This is a waste of tiIIIME," Clarisse said, screaming the last part.

 I turned to see that Polyphemus had just grabbed her and was carrying her away. "Great, just what I needed, for my one partner to get taken by a man-eating monster," I grumbled.  “Now what am I going to do?”

 “Well, you could always join us, Nygma.” I turned in shock at the voice, and sure enough, it was Annabeth, with Percy. Gods, I had never been so glad to see anyone in my life! Percy quickly asked about Tyson, and as soon as I assured him that he was safe, we went to try and free Clarisse and Grover from Polyphemus’ cave. We tried for hours to move the rock, but we couldn't budge it. (I didn't use my bow because I had no idea what it would do to the rock, if anything.) "Trickery. We can't beat him by force, we'll have to use trickery," Annabeth stated.

 "Okay, what trick?"

 "I haven't figured that part out yet."

 "I have though. Who does Polly hate the most?" I asked.

Percy asked, "Polly? Isn't that a name for a parrot?"

I sighed at Percy's inability to recognize a nickname when he heard one. "Polyphemus, who does Polyphemus hate the most?"

"Odysseus, of course. He hates him for blinding him," Annabeth answered.

"Exactly, so I'll just become him, or should I say, Noman."

"Don't you mean Nobody?"

"Please, Annabeth. I've read _The Odyssey_ and it translates best as Noman. Besides, that makes more sense, considering the only female warriors were the legendary Amazons. For now, I am Noman. But if you need to talk to me around him, call me Odysseus, alright?" They both agreed. Once Polly returned, they snuck into the cave, Percy under a sheep, Annabeth using he invisibility cap. Polly was just about to close his door when I called out, "Greetings, old friend!"

"Who said that?"

"It is I, old friend. I am Noman!"

That got _precisely_ the reaction that we were hoping for. "Noman! I remember you!"

"You haven't changed at all in the past three thousand years! You're still as foolish as before!" That's when he threw the first boulder at me. "Your aim hasn't improved any either!"

"Come here! Let me kill you, Noman!"

" _Let_ you kill me? I was wrong before. You have changed, you're even more foolish than before! You'll have to find me if you want to kill me!" In the meantime, I was activating my celestial steel spear, preparing for the right time to strike. Then, unbelievably, he hit Annabeth! I was furious, no one was going to do that to my friends! I threw my spear at the one point that I knew would hurt him the most, his nearly blind eye. The spear flew true and hit dead center in his pupil. " **Drop her!** " I growled out, just before he started screaming in agony. He dropped her alright, but she was above a cliff that dropped nearly 500 ft to the sea, in addition to the fifty foot drop from where she was to ground level. I took off, and moving with the speed of Mercury, caught her before she even fell 40 ft and then carried her back to the ship. When I got back, I noticed Percy, Clarisse, and Grover attacking Polly, but they weren't doing so well. I decided to help them out a bit by aggravating the wound in his eye by pulling out the spear. It was a good plan, but instead of coming out, the spear broke in half. So, I improvised; instead of just taking out the spear, I jabbed the broken shaft into his eye and pulled on both halves, taking the eye with me. (I later put it on display in the Big House, next to the Hydra head.)

"AH! Noman has blinded me again! A thousand curses on Noman! I'll kill him for blinding me again!" By now, the others had gotten across the rope bridge, and I followed them over. "Hey, Odysseus. Where's Annabeth?"

"She's safe onboard the _Birmingham_ , Percy. Now, let's get the fleece and get out of here." Unfortunately, Polly got across just then and swept Grover and Clarisse away before they could even react to him being there. Percy was so furious about that that he actually beat Polly on his own and made him cry! Unfortunately, between that and the fact that they were brothers, Percy decided to be merciful. (You wouldn't catch me being merciful to a monster, even if it was a child of Zeus.) 

Percy and I got the ship going, just as Polly showed up and started bombarding us with boulders. "Father Poseidon, curse this thief!"

"Poseidon won't curse me. I'm his son too. He won't play favorites." Polly continued to curse us and throw boulders, attempting to sink us. He was so pathetic, that I couldn't help but taunt him the same way Odysseus did.

"Polyphemus! Should anyone ask who finally took your eye, tell them that it was Alexander Summers, son of Zeus!" Unfortunately, my taunt told him exactly where we were, and the next boulder hit the _Queen Anne's Revenge_ , sinking her inside of three minutes. Luckily, Clarisse was still close, and once she picked us up, we headed for home. Between Percy’s powers, Tyson’s abilities with machines, and I’m sure, some help from Neptune, we arrived safely at Miami Beach after only a few hours of travel.


	9. The Return

 As usual, mortals paid us no heed when we washed up on the beach, but returning to civilization brought the others a shock. "June eighteenth! We've been away from camp ten days!"

  
 "Thalia's tree must be almost dead. We have to get the Fleece back tonight," I insisted.

  
 "How are we supposed to do that? We're hundreds of miles away. No money. No ride. This is just like the Oracle said. It's _your_ fault, Jackson! You too, Summers! If you hadn't interfered-"

  
 "Wait a minute. What did the Oracle say?" I hated Clarisse, but the prophecy would probably explain how to succeed.

  
 "All right. _You shall sail the iron ship with warriors of bone; You shall find what you seek and make it your own; But despair for your life entombed within stone; And fail without friends, to fly home alone_." Percy quickly figured out what the prophecy and asked if any of us had any money. I grabbed my wallet and pulled out $500 cash, in Franklins. (What? Dad and the Doc insisted I carry large amounts of cash, just in case.) I handed it to Clarisse, at Percy's insistence, as he handed her the Fleece.

  
 "Percy, that was so-"

  
 "Generous?" Grover suggested.

  
 "Selfless?" I asked.

  
 " _Insane_. You're betting the lives of everybody at camp that Clarisse will get the Fleece safely back by tonight?" I could tell that Annabeth was more upset that Percy had surprised her than the fact that he had given Clarisse the Fleece. Clarisse had only been gone a few minutes when we got an unwelcome surprise. "Hey, cuz. Welcome back to the States." Luke and his monster buddies tied us up, and then led us back to the _Princess Andromeda_ and started searching us. "Maybe you didn't hear me. Where-is-the-Fleece?"

  
 "Not here. We sent it on ahead of us. You messed up."

  
 "You're lying, Percy. You couldn't have . . . Clarisse?" He was shocked beyond belief, his face as red as a cherry. "You trusted . . . you gave . . ."

  
 "Yep."

 

 "Agrius! Get below and prepare my steed. Bring it to the deck. I need to fly to the Miami Airport, fast!"

  
 "You'll never catch her, _proditor_. She's got an hour's head start on you by now. She's probably already in the air." I was bluffing. It had only been half an hour since we parted ways, but it was better that he believed that then knowing the truth.  
 "You've been toying with us all along. You wanted us to bring you the Fleece and save you the trouble of getting it."

  
 "Of course, Percy. And you've messed everything up!"

  
 "Traitor!" What was Percy doing? And why would he throw his last drachma at Luke? "You tricked all of us! Even DIONYSUS at CAMP HALF-BLOOD!" Huh? What was all that about Mr. D . . . Ohhh, an Iris message. Clever Percy, I never would have thought of that. Percy then managed to get Luke to confess to everything.

  
 "You know that! Why do you keep asking me?"

  
 "Because I want everyone in the audience to hear you."

  
 " _What_ audience?" And that's when he turned around to see the Iris message. “Damn it.”

  
 "Well, some unplanned dinner entertainment." Percy then got Mr. D to admit that Luke's confession was genuine. "It appears I shall have to reinstate Chiron as activities director. I suppose I do miss the old horse's pinochle games." Just then Tanty got a hold of a cheeseburger, and he started cackling like he'd gone mad from pleasure. I knew it couldn't last, I'd even told him one day that the day he touched food again would be the day he was sent back, and that Dad would never allow him to taste food or drink again. "We are no longer in any need of your services, Tantalus."

  
 "What? But-"

  
 "You may return to the Underworld. You are dismissed."

  
 "No! But-Nooooooooo!" As he was screaming, he started dissolving into the sulfuric mist that monsters did when they died. He was trying to get one bite of the cheeseburger when he disappeared completely. The cheeseburger hit the plate, acting as a signal for the campers to start cheering. Luke was so furious that he slashed Backbiter through the Iris message and then let himself get baited into a duel with Percy. While they were busy with that, I managed to grab Annabeth's knife and cut her free, then she did the same for me. Now that we were free, we crept up to some of the monsters and started taking them out.

  
 "You can eat your dinner now, Oreius. Bon appetite." Oreius was moving towards us when I heard the distinctive _whish_ of an arrow and then saw it sticking out of his head. And before anyone could react to that, a black Pegasus stallion had caved in Agrius' face and both had dissolved into dust. That's when all Tartarus broke loose. Four or five centaurs, one of them being Chiron, charged into the midst of Luke's army and started attacking them/partying. Within five minutes, nearly every monster on the deck had disintegrated and we had escaped.

* * *

  
 About an hour later, Chiron was talking to us about some prophecy that the Delphic Oracle had made. "I suppose I could not expect to keep it a secret forever."

  
 "So _am_ I the one in the prophecy? Or is it Alex?"

  
 "I wish I knew, Percy. Both of you are not yet sixteen. For now we must simply train you as best as we can, and leave the rest to the Fates."

  
 "That's what it meant. Last summer. The omen from the Fates, when we saw them snip somebody's life string. I thought it might meant I was going to die right away, but it's worse than that. It's got something to do with your prophecy. The death they foretold-it's going to happen when I'm sixteen," Percy stated.

  
 "My boy, you can't be sure of that. We don't even know it the prophecy is about you."

  
 " _Delphi shall cause worry; And four will stand empty; Two half-bloods of the eldest gods; Shall reach sixteen against all odds._ " I quoted. The way Chiron looked at me, more shocked than Luke had been when he realized who had the Fleece, made me curious. What was he so shocked about? "That was the prophecy of the Titaness Phoebe, and the first half has already been fulfilled. _Delphi shall cause worry; And four will stand empt_ y. Because of this prophecy, The Oracle of Delphi has caused the gods' to worry, and Jupiter and Neptune's cabins were empty for 60 years. Four empty cabins. And do you know any other demigod children of the Big Three, let alone any that share their birthday?"

  
 "None that we know of."

  
 "And Kronos is rising. He's going to destroy Mount Olympus!"

  
 "He will try. And Western Civilization along with it, if we don't stop him. But we will stop him. You two will not be alone in that fight."

  
 We arrived at camp only fifteen minutes after Clarisse and we quickly took the Fleece to Thalia's tree, draping it over the lowest branch. It brought immediate results, a good thing too. Apparently a dragon had attacked the camp and destroyed the arts and crafts cabin. Speaking of which, Chiron mentioned putting an add in Olympus Weekly for an appropriate guardian of the fleece. Luckily, nobody mentioned our unsolicited support of Clarisse's quest, considering we'd have been kicked out. The next morning, Chiron announced that the chariot races would continue, and we all got back to work on our chariots. Annabeth and Percy had made peace and worked together, deciding to share the prize if they won. The Tyson problem had apparently evaporated after he saved them from Polly.

* * *

  
 The night before the races, I was walking by the stables when I noticed Percy talking to Mercury. "Oh, listen, Lord Hermes, about Luke . . . Uh, we saw him, all right, but-"

  
 "You weren't able to talk sense into him?"

  
 "Well we kind of tried to kill each other in a duel to the death."

  
 "I see. You tried the diplomatic approach." He thinks that was the diplomatic approach? Hmm, maybe he buys the ‘aggressive negotiation’ line. A few minutes later, he explained. "Families are messy. Immortal families are eternally messy. Sometimes the best we can do is to remind each other that we're related, for better or worse . . . and try to keep the maiming and killing to a minimum. You two should get back to bed. I've helped you get into quite enough trouble this summer already. I really came only to make these deliveries."

  
 "You two? Deliveries?" I revealed myself, and Mercury had us sign for our envelopes. As soon as Mercury left, we opened our letters. Percy's was simple, and a little disappointing. It was only two words: _Brace Yourself_. Mine was a bit longer: **Be Prepared. Everything is about to change**. The next day, once Percy and Annabeth won the race, Percy finally acknowledged Tyson as his brother in front of the other campers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Proditor is Latin for traitor. I know that not much has changed, but I couldn’t think of much to change.


	10. Thalia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before I get started on this, thanks to JazzPotato67 and clm08a for providing the stories that I base the finale on.

 A few days after the chariot race, we learned that Tyson was going to Poseidon's to work at the forges. Then, the day after he left, _it_ happened. That morning, before 'rosy-fingered Dawn' had hit the camp, Grover came running to the cabins yelling for me and Percy. "Annabeth . . . on the hill . . . she . . . She's lying there . . . just lying there . . ." Obviously _something_ had happened that night. Annabeth had been guarding the Fleece that night while we waited for a monster guardian.

 

Percy and I threw on some clothes and ran to my sister's tree, (I could tell he had done the same because his shirt was on inside out.) By the time we'd gotten there, dozens of other campers had already arrived (more had come after we got the fleece,) as had Chiron. "Curse the Titan Lord! He's tricked us again, given himself another chance to control the prophecy."

 "What do you mean?"

  
 "The Fleece. The Fleece worked its magic too well." I was wondering what that meant, when I noticed two things. First was the girl lying by the tree. She was about two years older than me, with short black hair, pale skin, black fingernails and all black clothes, and a leather jacket; in short, a punk. The other was a scratching sound coming from underground, almost like fingernails digging against the wood of a coffin. Percy called out for some nectar and ambrosia, just as I caught her demigod scent. I was shocked, because I knew that scent, and I knew it as well as I knew Olympus or Percy. It was the smell of a thunderstorm, my scent, the scent of a child of Jupiter. "Come on! What's wrong with you people? Let's get her to the Big House."

  
 Then she woke up. "Who-"

  
 "I'm Percy. You're safe now."

  
 "Strangest dream . . ."

  
 "It's okay."

  
 "Dying."

  
 "No. You're okay. What's your name?"

  
 I looked around, and I could tell everyone already knew the answer, even Percy had figured it out. But Chiron, Grover and Annabeth were clearly in shock, seeing someone that they hadn't seen in seven years. "I am Thalia. Daughter of Zeus." Then she passed out again.

  
 Percy finally got fed up with the way that everyone was in shock and just carried her to the Big House on his own. That finally woke me up, and I turned to Chiron, Grover and Annabeth. "Chiron, I think that you should get the counselors to a meeting in the Big House to discuss this. But first, Annabeth, Grover, I need you to help me dig here. The Fleece brought someone else back to life." My orders woke them up and Chiron told the counselors to get their siblings to their cabins, while they were to report to the Rec. Room in one hour. Annabeth ran for some shovels while Grover grabbed a few other satyrs and some nymphs to help out. We quickly dug to the coffin, and found the one person I never expected to see again, my mother, Sarah Summers. "Father was right," I said after I'd made the necessary introductions. "Everything _has_ changed." Then I turned to Grover. "Grover, _now_ I can forgive you for failing my sister. Consider your debt paid in full.

 

* * *

 

Inside the Big House, Chiron set up shifts for the counselors to watch over Thalia until she woke up again. The first shift consisted of Percy, Annabeth and I. After one hour, Percy and Annabeth had both fallen asleep. About an hour after that, Thalia woke up again. "Jason? I thought you were dead! Where am I? Are the Minotaur and Orthrus dead? Where are Grover, Annabeth and Luke? Did they make it alright?"

 

 Whew, this could be difficult. "Listen, I don't know a Jason, my name is Alex Summers, and you're in the Big House at Camp Half-Blood. And they did get here safely."

  
 "What are you keeping from me? Where are they? I thought that they would be here watching over me."

  
 "Well, Annabeth is here, and Grover is with Bacchus right now."

  
 "And Luke? Where is he? WHAT ARE YOU KEEPING FROM ME?" I sighed. I'd been hoping to keep it from her until she'd gotten better. "Thalia, what year is it?"

  
 "What _year_? It's 2002. Why?"

  
 "When you stayed behind to let Luke and Annabeth get to safety, you nearly died. Jup-er, Zeus turned you into a tree to save your life. That was seven years ago. You were only supposed to stay in long enough to heal, but Juno, Hera, cursed you." I could see the shock and disbelief in her eyes, so I decided to bring in my proof. "Annabeth, come over here so Thalia can see you." Percy and I decided to leave them alone for a little while.

  
 Eventually, Annabeth came out. "Well, that could have gone better."

  
 "What, she didn't believe you?"

  
 "Not exactly, Nygma. I think it's going to be a while before it sinks in and she actually believes it."

 

* * *

 

 Father had Mercury take care of Mom enough so that she had a place to live, and she wasn't legally dead anymore, while Thalia was able to leave the Big House the next day. So naturally Chiron called the three of us to a meeting. When Percy and I arrived at the Conference Room, Chiron had obviously told Thalia about Luke, and was waiting for us before continuing. "My dear, have you been told of the Great Prophecy?"

  
 "No, I haven't heard anything about a prophecy."

  
 "What about the Pact of the Big Three?"

 

 "That I _have_ heard about. But what does that have to do with anything?"

  
 "A little before World War II, a prophecy was made. I cannot tell you all of it, but it foretold that the next child sired by the Big Three to reach sixteen would be a powerful weapon. They will make a decision that will save or destroy the age of the gods."  
 "So they stopped having kids with mortals so no one would turn against them?" Chiron answered in the affirmative. "But I was born anyway. So now I'm a powerful weapon that could destroy the gods?"

  
 "Quite possibly. But you are not yet sixteen. Kronos now has three chances to control the prophecy."

  
 " _Three_ chances? What do you mean-" Then she turned to look at Percy and me. "Wait a second, who are you? You look like . . . someone I know . . ."

  
 "I'm Percy."

  
 "What cabin?"

  
 "Cabin three. I'm a son of Poseidon."

  
 "And I suppose that would make you a son of Hades?"

  
 I laughed at that. "No. While I'm sure that would be an interesting life, Hades is just my uncle."

  
 "Poseidon then?"

  
 "No, I'm actually your brother. I'm a son of Jupiter, err, I mean Zeus." Thalia just looked at me in shock. I wasn't surprised. Except for a few facial features, we were about as different as night and day. She was as pale as death, while I was deeply tanned. She had hair blacker than midnight, while mine was blonde. She clearly preferred black, while I was wearing all blue (probably why she thought I was Percy's brother.) "Hey, who's Jason?"  
 Thalia hesitated before saying "My brother, he's dead. Hera took him."  She turned away from me saying "You look just like him."

  
 After a pause, Chiron continued. "Well, now you know. Kronos will be manipulating all of you in every way possible. Now that there are three of you, he believes it will cause you to be weaker. You must not let Kronos get to you, and you need to be able to rely on each other for strength. Can you promise me that you'll do this?" His gazed shifted back and forth between us. All three of us agreed to do that.

  
 "So, did either of you know Luke?" Thalia asked after Chiron dismissed us.

  
 "Yeah, we both did. He helped both of us out a lot in our first week or two here. At least, until we left for our quest, and then he got me alone and . . . Anyway, yeah, I knew him, and called him a friend for a while," Percy explained.

  
 “All I’m going to say is that he touched my heart and hurt me as a result,” I growled out.

  
 "He was my family for so long. I can't believe he would do any of that."

  
 "We're so sorry," Percy stated.

  
 "So, can either of you do anything special?"

  
 When Percy asked what she meant, she held her hands about a foot apart and electricity sparked between her fingers. "Well, as far as I know, I can't miss with a bow or spear, I can see through the Mist perfectly-if I want to, and I can smell demigods."  
 "Smell half-bloods? That sounds like something a satyr can do. In fact, nothing you can do sounds like Zeus."

  
 "Don't ask me," I said.  I don't know why, but for some reason I didn't really _want_ to tell her the truth.  What was going on?  I had wanted to get to know Thalia for as long as I had known about her, yet now I had the distinct feeling that we were  _not_ going to get along.

  
 "Anything from Dad?"

  
 "Nothing I want to show anyone anytime soon." I really wanted to keep my control over lightning a secret as long as possible, mostly because I wanted to be able to surprise Saturn if necessary. Percy declined to show Thalia anything at the moment, although considering we were nowhere near water, I could understand why. We then led her on a tour of the camp, just like Annabeth had done for us. When we passed by Athena's cabin, she asked "So, how is Annabeth doing?"

  
 Percy explained, "She's the counselor for Athena. She's not the oldest, but she's been here the longest, she's thirteen now. Her siblings look up to her because she really knows here stuff."

  
 "Wow, Annabeth. You're really growing up," she almost whispered.  Naturally, we both heard her.

  
 "That sounds more like something a parent would say than a friend," Percy noticed.

  
 "Well, when we were on our way here, we were each others family. Naturally, Luke and I took on the role of parents."

  
 Percy dropped us off at our cabin, and I showed Thalia around. It wasn't long before Thalia and I had our first spat of sibling rivalry. "Why do you have the best bed?"

  
 "Well, because I was the only one here for the past year, and the only one here for decades, so I furnished the room. You got a problem with that, sis?"

  
 "I'm the oldest, I should get it. And _NEVER_ call me sis!" Her hands started sparking and I pulled out Ventus and prepared to shoot her . . .

 

* * *

 

 A couple hours later, Chiron had finally finished lecturing us about how we should "never fight inside a cabin, and NEVER destroy the cabin." His punishment: rebuilding the destroyed section of the wall, and the only divine help we could have was building materials. In the meantime, Thalia was sent to room with the Venus kids and I went back to Mercury’s cabin. That was the beginning of a long hate-hate relationship that lasted throughout the rest of summer, through fall, and into winter. Our relationship worsened when Jupiter and Juno picked sides in our fights; Dad was with me, and Juno took Thalia's side. We always sat as far apart as possible at meals, slept in opposite corners of our rebuilt (and more homey) cabin (her in an alcove, me on the bed,) and only got together for events when we could compete against one another. It got so bad that I actually left Camp Half-Blood for a few days after the two of us had completely destroyed our cabin and had to rebuild it. I went home to be with Mom, and left only a few days later, legally changing my name to Alexander Caesar Julius in the process. It was the last time I ever saw her in the flesh.

  
 The only time Thalia and I managed to agree on anything was when we decided what to do about the counselor position. The rule was who had been there longest _or_ completed more quests. Thalia claimed to have been at camp for seven years, while I had completed two quests. Typically it was a fight to sort things out, but that was too dangerous with us. We finally decided that we would be our own counselor, and we would both show up for counselors meetings. Things finally came to a head when we were both asked to help Grover out at Westover Hall Military Academy . . .


End file.
